26 He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces corn – first the stalk, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 As soon as the corn is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.’
Mark 4:26 – 29

I can still hear the voice of the late Simon Pettit preaching on this passage at a conference in Harare, Zimbabwe. I can hear his big deep and coarse voice bellowing repeatedly: “all by itself…” The man scatters seed and then he watches, as if by some form of magic, all by itself, the soil produces corn. Paul gives us a clue as to what exactly is taking place when in 1 Cor 3:6, he dispels the magic theory. “6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” Aha, so it’s not magic afterall, it’s an act of God – He brings increase in our lives.

We certainly have a part to play, and that is to sow and to water responsibly and diligently. But we need to realise that we can never play God’s part which is to bring increase. In our own lives, we read the word, ensure we are in good and healthy fellowship with other believers, and we practice spiritual disciplines and through that we watch God making us stronger and more mature individuals. We also invest into other people’s lives by spending time with them, imparting Biblical and godly principles and values to them as well as praying for them and we trust God to do the rest.

The principle of sowing and reaping is a Biblical one which involves us planting, watering and harvesting and all the while we have One who is working behind the scenes to bring growth. I pray that today you will engage your faith in Him and thank him for spiritual growth because it is an act of God!

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